Even as government has recently brought 52 new drugs under its price control mechanism, including antibiotics and cancer medicines, chemists rue that medications ranging from anti-gout pills to life saving drugs like albumin 20 per cent  are in short supply at retail pharmacies.

According to sources, scarcity of certain essential medicines, namely, anti-snake venom, rabies vaccine, rabies immunoglobulin, albumin injection and anti-malarial combination of sulfadoxine + pyrimethamine tablets has been reported to the NPPA.

As per a recent NPPA notification, absence of regular reporting under DPCO, 2013 by the manufacturers, it appears that the concerned manufacturers are not maintaining normal supplies of these medicines in domestic market and/or institutions. Hence, the availability of such vital and essential drugs has been affected many parts of the country.  

Though chemists say that the NPPA price cut has resulted in decline in prices of some of these formulations between 7 per cent  to 30 per cent, an FDA official, however, informs that in order to meet the demand supplies are also now being routed through hospitals like in the case of albumin 20 per cent . Reliance and Hemarus are the two major companies maintaining the supplies to the hospitals in the city.

Human albumin serum helps maintains levels of calcium in the body and transports nutrients or drugs effectively in the blood stream. The body can suffer a shortage of albumin if a patient is affected by liver disease, kidney failure, burns and malnourishment.  

A recent case of drug overpricing was detected by Maharashtra FDA when Albumin worth Rs. 1.5 lakh was confiscated from a Mumbai based stockist Nexus Lifecare Pvt Ltd. The regulator has filed a case against the company in the court in violation of Drug Price Control Order (DPCO-2013).

Stockists in the country have stopped importing the drug after it came under the new DPCO-2013. Meanwhile, Reliance Life Sciences is also awaiting government approval on imports of plasma required for its production on a large scale.

Human albumin low sodium of 20 per cent strength in 100 ml used to cost around Rs. 4,904 but was sold at a higher price of Rs. 5,980 due to the shortage following NPPA price cut. The emergency drug which is generally being used as a life saving drug in cases of severe blood loss or in trauma cases was earlier being imported by few companies in India.

Pharmaceutical companies like Reliance, Intas, Bharat Serums and Baxter were major manufacturers and suppliers of albumin in Indian markets. After slashing of prices, they have stopped supply to domestic markets.

Chemist associations, though, blame stringent government policies for sale of certain drugs that entail filling up a number of papers, informs a Mumbai based chemist, "Important medicines such as allopurinol that is used to control uric acid and certain steroids are not available. Certain medicines such as abortion pills and codeine cough syrup were also in short supply."